Discovery of DFV890, a Potent Sulfonimidamide-Containing NLRP3 Inflammasome Inhibitor
Dong-Ming Shen, Kate F. Byth, Damien Bertheloot, Simona Braams, Sarah Bradley, Dennis Dean, Carien Dekker, Ayman El‐Kattan, Luigi Franchi, Gary D. Glick, Shomir Ghosh, Alexandra Hinniger, Jason D. Katz, Ana Kitanovic, Xiaokang Lu, Edward J. Olhava, Anthony W. Opipari, Brian Sanchez, H. Martin Seidel, James Stunden, Andrea Stutz, Alissa Telling, Shankar Venkatraman, David G. Winkler, William Roush
Abstract
The discovery of DFV890 (( R )- 1 ), a potent and selective NLRP3 antagonist, is described. Replacement of the sulfonyl urea core from the first-generation NLRP3 antagonist CRID3 with a sulfonimidamide core afforded a novel and potent series of NLRP3 antagonists. The (R)- enantiomers of the sulfonimidamide series were found to be consistently more potent than structurally related sulfonyl ureas. Replacement of the furan unit of CRID3 with a 5-substituted thiazole unit led to DFV890 (( R )- 1 ), which potently inhibited IL-1β production in THP-1 cells and in primary human cells, blocked multiple downstream effectors of NLRP3 activation, and substantially improved PK properties and significantly lowered the predicted human dose compared to that for CRID3. DFV890 (( R )- 1 ) was also effective in an air pouch model of gout.